Officials say at least 5 dead after I-80 crashes
At least five people died in three crashes close together on Interstate 80 in eastern Nebraska.
The Nebraska State Patrol closed 13 miles of eastbound I-80 near Milford, Nebraska, for several hours after the crashes on Sunday morning.
One semitrailer truck caught fire, and the Nebraska State Patrol helicopter landed on the interstate to assist.
Nebraska 511 reported that I-80 eastbound between 13 miles east of York and 15 miles west of Lincoln was shut down. They now report traffic is moving again.
Seward County Sheriff Joe Yocum says the first crash happened after a westbound vehicle crossed the median and struck an eastbound vehicle
The driver of the westbound vehicle was from Clinton Iowa and drifted toward the shoulder and hit the rumble bars, after that they over-corrected through the median.
The car was then struck by an eastbound vehicle. Three people in the backseat of the westbound vehicle were ejected, they were not wearing seatbelts.
The front seat passenger was wearing a seatbelt but she too was killed.
The drivers of both cars survived the crash.
This was one of several accidents under investigation.
The Nebraska State Patrol tweeted, “It’s been a bad day on I-80 between Lincoln and York with multiple fatality crashes.
There have been crashes at mile markers 381, 378, and 367. The NSP helicopter landed on the interstate to assist at mile marker 367.
Four people in the westbound vehicle died, and the driver of the eastbound vehicle was taken to the hospital.
One other person died in one of the subsequent crashes that followed the initial one.
That crash occurred near mile marker 378 Sunday morning when the semi truck 33-year-old Abdiaziz Jama of Columbus Ohio was driving failed to slow down and rear-ended another semi.
Jama was killed in the crash.
The initial crash caused a chain reaction that included a third semi and a 2013 Dodge Ram.
Jama’s passenger, 30-year-old Mohamed Abdullahi was transported to a nearby hospital with non-lie-threatening injuries.
Investigators believe Jama may have been texting at the time of the crash.
The names of the crash victims were not immediately released on Sunday afternoon.
Please use caution on the roads and always buckle up.
Source:-http://www.wowt.com/content/news/Deadly-crashes-shut-down-part-of-Interstate-80-481863381.html
